Hen suddenly changes to laying a dark egg

[Ebarnes-21]

The earlobes are all red - I haven't had any white ear lobed chickens in this flock ... and no true white egg layers either.

The light bits visible on the white hen there I'm pretty sure are the little feather puff - the red ear lobe is below that and big enough to look like a wattle. The coloured hen underneath is a Buff Sussex. She does have red earlobes, but much smaller and partially obscured by light ginger feathers. She's 2yo and lays a pinkish light brown egg.

Does the shade of red in earlobes mean anything, or is it just white ones or not? Some of them have large earlobes which are very bright red, others have smaller not so vivid red earlobes.

 

[LaFleche]

Maybe one of your neighbours has a rooster that loves to stray from time to time...?

 

[Ebarnes-21]

He'd be adventurous, as chickens go
Assuming the closest home, which does have chickens ... he'd be traveling about 400 yards each way. My chickens could help, they range about 100 yards that direction ... he'd have to be cunning, going around the edge hidden in the bushes and not crowing during his visit. He begins to sound like Chicken 007 ...

I haven't seen any sign of their chickens coming this way, but they could certainly be roaming, and mine are too.

 

[Perris]

Does the shade of red in earlobes mean anything, or is it just white ones or not?

not that I know of. Sorry for wasting your time earlier - I should have zoomed in on the photos before commenting on ear lobes!

 

[SueT]

I have a 7 yr old speckled Sussex that used to lay light brown eggs but now lays white. I figured she just used up all her pigment.

 

[danij]

i probably wont be of much help but i have mixed flock with one silkie and a araucana, one sussex and the browns. we also have someone who lays an dark egg just like you have shown. however it has been that way from the start (all only been laying a month or two now) i just figured it was one of the browns , as i though the sussex laid a lighter brown egg.

i also didn't know about the earlobes but off hand thought they were all red.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Maybe one of your neighbours has a rooster that loves to stray from time to time...?

I don't see what a wandering rooster has to do with the color of a hen's egg ... ?

 

[LaFleche]

I don't see what a wandering rooster has to do with the color of a hen's egg ... ?

If the wandering rooster had dark egg ancestry in his genes and had fleeting romances with some or one of the OPs hens, some of the female offspring could lay darker eggs than their mothers.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

If the wandering rooster had dark egg ancestry in his genes and had fleeting romances with some or one of the OPs hens, some of the female offspring could lay darker eggs than their mothers.

Yes, the offspring could. But he could not affect this hen's egg color.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Yes, the offspring could. But he could not affect this hen's egg color.

To be clear: this hen started out laying a light-colored egg. Regardless of the genetics of the rooster she mates with, she will always lay a light-colored egg; his genes won't affect her eggs. If her eggs change color, some other factor is at play. Even if she is bred by a French Black Copper Marans rooster, a breed whose hens lay deep dark chocolate eggs, that's not going to change the color of her eggs.